Mashing buttons since 1984
I thought I mentioned this earlier, but it seems to have slipped through the cracks. Jason has re-launched his gaming blog, Flicker Gaming, with lots of game blogging goodness. Make sure you add it to your feed reader, if you haven’t already.
I also meant to link Corvus’ fun little piece in the Escapist, something I thoroughly enjoyed.
Things might get a little wonky around here, I’m going to be tinkering under the WordPress hood. I’d like to update the look of my site with a more appropriate banner and color scheme. I’ve also got a backlog of posts that I need to tag. I hope it doesn’t make the feed go screwy. I apologize in advance if it does.
I’m also going to upgrade to the most recent WordPress install and update any plugins that may have been updated.
We’ll get to our regular scheduled program shortly.
Well, even though this was widely linked last week, I’d be remiss if I didn’t comment on it as well. There was a piece in the Opinion Journal (of the WSJ.com) by Brian Anderson about video games. It’s the same mantra we’ve been hearing but it never hurts to repeat it:
Video games can also exercise the brain in remarkable ways. I recently spent (too) many late-night hours working my way through X-Men: Legends II: The Rise of Apocalypse, a game I ostensibly bought for my kids. Figuring out how to deploy a particular grouping of heroes (each of whom has special powers and weaknesses); using trial and error and hunches to learn the game’s rules and solve its puzzles; weighing short-term and long-term goals–the experience was mentally exhausting and, when my team finally beat the Apocalypse, exhilarating.
And the ever-present challenge to would be gaming-Nannies:
With the next generation of high-powered consoles on the market or soon to appear, gamers will have even richer, more complex virtual environments, many of them nonlinear, to explore. Working through these worlds alone, with friends or–in the ever more popular “massively multiplayer online role-playing games,” or MMOs–with thousands of strangers is far from a “colossal waste of time.” Video games are popular culture at its best. Critics would do better to drop the hysterical laments and pick up a joystick.
Of course, that can be favorably contrasted with this article in the Washington Times about video game legislation, that claims:
For one thing, these laws have tended to be mostly symbolic; the fact that interest in them tends to fade in the absence of newspaper headlines suggests strong elements of political theatrics at play. Second, the laws are regularly struck down by courts for their dubious constitutionality, and everyone including the scourges knows this. Third, more than 9 of 10 retailers have policies restricting the sale of such games to children anyway. All of which begs a question: Just how sincere are the proponents of these laws? Most of them are Democrats with strong interests in easy “moral values” scores. Smells like opportunism to us.
Political theatrics? Political opportunism? Perish the thought!
As an aside, the Opinion Journal mentions the study done by Dmitri Williams at the University of Illinois (which I mentioned here) which uses the game Asheron’s Call 2 for its study. I’ve never played AC2 (or the first one, for that matter), but it doesn’t seem like that game would be explicitly violent or very gory. Is it? Are the violence and gore on the same level as a Resident Evil 4 or a Grand Theft Auto? And if so, can fantasy violence really be compared to a game with more “realistic” characters? Is running over an innocent bystander with a pick-up the same as smashing a goblin with a mace? Just a thought.
Related articles can be found here.
When I go into the video game section of Blockbuster and I see the PSP section without a single game being rented but there’s no DS section. I know there was a lot of hype surrounding the PSP and Blockbuster was probably caught up in it but It’s frustrating that they’ve completely ignored the DS rental market. There are a handful of games I’d love to try but I can’t justify purchasing all of them. Blockbuster is missing out on some serious business.
Maybe I’ll have to give Gamefly a try, afterall.
Kim has posted the Carnival of Gamers 15: Hard Times Besiege the Midway. Go check it out!
Unfortunately I didn’t feel like I had anything “Carnival” worthy, so I sat this one out. Fortunately, there were plenty of submissions elsewhere, so I think this will shape up to be another great carnival. Thanks goes to Kim for hosting the Carnival.
(I’ll update the Carnival HQ page this evening The Carnival HQ is now up-to-date, with all the upcoming hosts for the rest of the year. We even have people lining up for next year!)
You’ve probably read that Target and other fine retail establishments are already selling Nintendo DS Lites, almost two weeks before the release date. It is tempting to pick one up, as I fully intend on picking up a DS Lite. Nevertheless, this presents a conundrum: I lust after a black (or navy, whatever) DS Lite, not the white DSL. So while I could be jamming on a brand new DS Lite right now, I find myself compelled to wait for the sexier, darker DS Lite.
So do I take the early plunge, get the white DS and then wait until the others are released and trade the white in for one? Or do I hold out longer? There’s nothing wrong with my Electric Blue DS. It’s strictly gadget lust. I must have one of those Lites!
It’s the last day to get your submissions in to Kim for the Carnival. Don’t delay!
I’ve been meaning to start a new thing here at buttonmashing.com where I expound on my initial impressions. I’ve posted a lot of “first impressions” but I don’t follow up as often as I want to. Often, those initial impressions are the “honeymoon” stage and you look past flaws. Now that I’ve been well past that stage with EVE, I thought I’d share a little more on my experiences.
He’s been blogging for a couple weeks now, but another one of my buddies has taken the blog-plunge on account of my encouragement (pressure? insistence?). He’s a fellow Buckeye fan, video gamer, and all-around good guy. He also has excellent photoshop skills and he’s crafted me a mighty fine looking banner that I plan to get on the site soon. He prefers to keep his identity private, only to be known as the “Monkey.” I present to you: MonkeyPi.net.
Stop on over and say hey.
